About Us
Our Story
As Baptists, we have come to a very important crossroads that will determine the future of our faithfulness to the gospel. Ours is a time of great forgetting and renewal may seem like an impossibility. Perhaps you feel like Ezekiel, standing over the valley of dry bones with that question ringing in your ears, “Can these bones live?” If renewal depends on us alone, nothing will come of it. Renewal, however, is a powerful work of God. He’s only called us to be faithful. Pleading with the Lord for renewal and faithfulness are key. That is what AMBER is all about. If the Lord wills, He will bring renewal. In the meantime, as we trust Him, we will be working very hard at producing resources, creating opportunities for growth and learning, collaborating with local churches, and encouraging pastors toward greater faithfulness.
Who Are We?
The Association of Ministers for Baptist and Evangelical Renewal (AMBER) is an independent association of likeminded pastors and churches who have covenanted together to work for renewal in our lives as ministers and in our churches. We are distinctively Baptist, rooted in a rich confessional heritage, and warmly evangelical which means that we prize the gospel of Jesus Christ and seek to establish it at the very centre of our lives and mission.
Meet the Council
Norm Derkson
President of AMBER and Lead Pastor of First Baptist Church, Calgary, AB.
Edgar Unrau
Lead Pastor of Calvary Baptist Church,
Chemainus, BC.
Keith Falconer
Lead Pastor of Maranatha Baptist Church,
Abbotsford, BC.
Michael Lorusso
Editor and Communications Director for AMBER
and Pastor, High River, AB.
Garth C. Plamping
Lead Pastor of Asquith Baptist Church,
Asquith, SK.
Elroy Senneker
Associate Pastor of First Baptist Church,
Calgary, AB.
Shaun Martens
Associate Pastor of First Baptist Church,
Calgary, AB.